best neighborhood for house value appreciation? (Huntsville, Madison: for sale, new home, established neighborhood)

[TN2HSV]

I'm ever-so-slowly getting the hubs to see my way of thinking when it comes to older/established neighborhoods vs. new construction. We've been looking at some 10-25 yr old homes in the Woodland Hills area of Madison, and also in Hampton Cove. And we've also been looking at 40-50+ yr old homes in Jones Valley. I love Jones Valley, but I think the homes scare hubby. Not me because I've redone a 50 yr old home before and I can see past the quirks & shabby stuff.

Question for you realtors....which area(s) do you think would be the best bet for home value appreciation? Our max home investment would be $400k, but would like to keep it closer to $350k. So if we bought an older home that needed $100k worth of work to update/repair everything, the max we could pay for it would be $250-300k.

Hampton Cove has a LOT of homes on the market in the $300-400k price range right now, so I think bargains could be found. Same with Madison. But with Jones Valley you would always have the supply vs demand issue on your side. And Hampton Cove just feels so far removed from everything, compared with Jones Valley or Madison.

I'm interested to hear yoru thoughts and also opinions from anyone who lives in the older, more established areas.

[Maya Blue]

I'm not a realtor, but Piedmont seems to be an area if you buy a fixer to flip you will definitely come out ahead.

[cnygreek]

The wife and I toured the two renovated homes in the Spring Tour of Homes. One of them was located in piedmont and they bought the house for just over 200k (i cant remember the exact price, but look it up on Zillow) and it is currently on the market for 550k. There is another house down the street that is up for sale at 575k.

[Maya Blue]

Are you talking about that one on Homewood for $555? Yeah, that's nuts. Very nice house. But for 2900 sq. ft, it's not that nice.

[TN2HSV]

We looked at that house on Homewood also. Nuts! Yes, it's nice but not THAT nice. There was also a remodeled home on the tour in Jones Valley...on Forbes, I think. It wasn't 100% complete, but close enough. I liked the layout much better than the one in Piedmont/Homewood. The price was also $550k, which was too much. Loved the house, though.

We aren't looking for a house to flip, but rather a new home for our family. I like larger lots, big trees, established neighborhoods, not so transient. Basically the opposite of where we currently live!

[weaverra]

Originally Posted by TN2HSV

I'm ever-so-slowly getting the hubs to see my way of thinking when it comes to older/established neighborhoods vs. new construction. We've been looking at some 10-25 yr old homes in the Woodland Hills area of Madison, and also in Hampton Cove. And we've also been looking at 40-50+ yr old homes in Jones Valley. I love Jones Valley, but I think the homes scare hubby. Not me because I've redone a 50 yr old home before and I can see past the quirks & shabby stuff.

Question for you realtors....which area(s) do you think would be the best bet for home value appreciation? Our max home investment would be $400k, but would like to keep it closer to $350k. So if we bought an older home that needed $100k worth of work to update/repair everything, the max we could pay for it would be $250-300k.

Hampton Cove has a LOT of homes on the market in the $300-400k price range right now, so I think bargains could be found. Same with Madison. But with Jones Valley you would always have the supply vs demand issue on your side. And Hampton Cove just feels so far removed from everything, compared with Jones Valley or Madison.

I'm interested to hear yoru thoughts and also opinions from anyone who lives in the older, more established areas.

Honestly, I don't think you can go too wrong in the $250K-$400K price range being $250K is the low end. It really depends on your location though. Your property value is what increases not really the home itself unless square footage is added. Some people will go drop $20K on a new kitchen and think they have done something by adding $1K to the value of the house. You don't want to spend more than the house is worth with purchase price and renovations. Your renovations are not going to move the needle much unless the house is in terrible shape and all you are going to be doing is bringing the house back up to value. Nobody is going to pay you $450K for home in a neighborhood where homes are only worth $400K max unless they are an idiot. You can find a lot of nice homes in this area that just need updating and not a lot of structural work. One thing I would do is call the foundation companies in this area and ask about the neighborhoods you are interested in especially if they are built on hills. There are some that do have major problems being more so in South Huntsville.

[weaverra]

Originally Posted by cnygreek

The wife and I toured the two renovated homes in the Spring Tour of Homes. One of them was located in piedmont and they bought the house for just over 200k (i cant remember the exact price, but look it up on Zillow) and it is currently on the market for 550k. There is another house down the street that is up for sale at 575k.

That's like $150 per sq ft. There are several similar homes in that neighborhood that sold last year at $125 per sq ft.

[weaverra]

Originally Posted by TN2HSV

We looked at that house on Homewood also. Nuts! Yes, it's nice but not THAT nice. There was also a remodeled home on the tour in Jones Valley...on Forbes, I think. It wasn't 100% complete, but close enough. I liked the layout much better than the one in Piedmont/Homewood. The price was also $550k, which was too much. Loved the house, though.

We aren't looking for a house to flip, but rather a new home for our family. I like larger lots, big trees, established neighborhoods, not so transient. Basically the opposite of where we currently live!

I don't know why this is but it seems some realtors strategy around here is to overprice and either hope some idiot pays that or use price reductions as their primary strategy in their marketing. I say price the home were it needs to be and leave it alone. The only thing a price reduction signals to me is either there is something wrong with the home or the seller is desperate and I smell a deal. Because of this you get home that sit on the market way too long which also leads people to believe something is wrong.

[Maya Blue]

Originally Posted by weaverra

That's like $150 per sq ft. There are several similar homes in that neighborhood that sold last year at $125 per sq ft.

The one on Homewood is like $187 sq ft. Good luck to the sucker who falls for that.

I don't know why this is but it seems some realtors strategy around here is to overprice and either hope some idiot pays that or use price reductions as their primary strategy in their marketing. I say price the home were it needs to be and leave it alone. The only thing a price reduction signals to me is either there is something wrong with the home or the seller is desperate and I smell a deal. Because of this you get home that sit on the market way too long which also leads people to believe something is wrong.

True that. Maybe one of our local realtors on here can give us the low down.

[TN2HSV]

Originally Posted by weaverra

I don't know why this is but it seems some realtors strategy around here is to overprice and either hope some idiot pays that or use price reductions as their primary strategy in their marketing. I say price the home were it needs to be and leave it alone. The only thing a price reduction signals to me is either there is something wrong with the home or the seller is desperate and I smell a deal. Because of this you get home that sit on the market way too long which also leads people to believe something is wrong.

I tend to agree with you, to some extent. There are a lot of homes that sit & sit & sit, for various reasons. In Madison, resale houses tend to sit for a long time becuase there's SO much new construction to choose from. But, I've seen some homes come on the market priced aggressively, and they've sold pretty quick. And who knows if it's the realtors or the homeowners driving the high prices. A LOT of people use the "but I paid $300k for it 6 years ago, how can it only be worth $280k now?" rationale when pricing a home. Realtors can give guidance & expertise, but at the end of the day it's the homeowner who makes the final decision. There's a house in the neighborhood adjacent to us that's priced $100k more than any other house in the subdivision, even new construction. and guess what? It's been sitting for over a year. Apparently they aren't under any pressure to sell!